The field of the invention relates generally to crash protected memories, and more specifically, to a system and method for storing and managing data storage in a Crash Protected Memory.
At least some known solid-state Crash Protected Memory (CPM) devices utilize Single-Level Cell (SLC) flash memory technology due to its higher reliability and wider design and operating margins. SLC technology also has an advantage in write/erase endurance. Where SLC technology stores a single binary state (0 or 1), Multi-Level Cell (MLC) technology can store two bits in four binary states in each cell (00, 01, 10, 11) To date, MLC technology cannot retain its data over the simulated low-temperature burn profile defined for aircraft crash recorders (260 degrees C. for 10 hours). This is due to charge leakage where the original programmed data is altered, for example, a cell value stored as a binary “11” may leak to “10” and a cell value stored as a binary “00” may leak to a “01”.
Currently, SLC technology can withstand the leakage of some of the charge (or lack thereof) that indicates a binary 0 or 1 due to the design margin employed within the device. In other words, each cell of a SLC device is read to determine whether it contains a charge or is depleted (erased). The margin between the two states is wide enough to tolerate a significant amount of leakage over time and temperature while still preserving the data contained therein. However, SLC devices are becoming more scarce and expensive as they are smaller percentage of the global flash memory market due to the pressures of ever-increasing demand for storage capacity